


Less Than a Victory

by Maeve_of_Winter



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Deal with a Devil, Demon Deals, F/M, Friendship, Loneliness, M/M, Magic, Moving On
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 22:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12375480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: Kevin tries to make a deal with the devil to save Betty's life. It goes less well than planned.





	Less Than a Victory

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.

Kevin’s magic manifested just at the end of eighth grade, and when he realized just how much danger mortals lived in from magic users, he had Betty make him a promise.

He set it up like one big joke, with candles, incense, and a battered book on witchcraft borrowed from the library. While Betty rolled her eyes at him, she also grinned and played along, delighting in an activity she knew her mother wouldn’t approve of.

“Betty Cooper,” Kevin intoned as ribbons of smoke twined up from the lighted incense. “Do you allow me, Kevin Keller, to intervene through magic and with magical oaths on your behalf?”

Betty laughed at his seriousness, but ended up coughing on the smoke, and Kevin had to clap her on the back so she could speak.

“I do,” she choked out, still giggling.

From that day forward, Betty was under his protection, and Kevin would give anything to help her.

* * *

Sophomore year was when his friendship with Betty began to fade. He’d always predicted that when Betty got a boyfriend (and given that she had far more options than himself, he had long figured she’d be the first one of them to start dating), they would grow apart.

However, what he didn’t predict was Betty not only finding a boyfriend in Jughead Jones, but also finding a new best friend, one much more glamourous and sophisticated than Kevin himself, in fallen debutante Veronica Lodge. And when Betty and Veronica decided to join the cheerleading squad together, Kevin again knew he would see even less of Betty.

But what really burned was Betty establishing a frenemy relationship with Cheryl and beginning to spend a decent amount of time with her—more time than she spent with him these days.

Kevin could understand wanting a romance. He could understand being taken in by Veronica’s charm and charisma. But Cheryl, who’d never had a kind word to say to Betty in her life? That was who Betty would rather be hanging out with? Jesus H. Christ, he must have been a far worse friend than he’d ever realized if he ranked below  _ Cheryl _ .

And so Betty’s social calendar grew steadily fuller, but rarely included any activity that involved Kevin. For the last three years, they’d had a tradition of attending the Homecoming dance together, but that year, she went with Jughead. They rented a limo together with Archie and Veronica, Polly and Jason, and Cheryl and her date.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t expect Betty to attend Homecoming with her actual boyfriend. He couldn’t begrudge her that.

But given that none of them invited him, it did suck to sit at their lunch table every day and listen to them make plans for several weeks beforehand, and then wax poetic about the night’s events for days afterward.

He should have accepted it, Kevin knew. People grew, people changed, and people didn’t always stay friends. It was a very natural process. Trying to revitalize his friendship with Betty was a losing battle—it would be better for both of them if he were to simply exit gracefully.  

But they’d been friends from the first grade onward, for a solid decade now. And maybe Kevin was stupidly sentimental, but to him, that meant something.

 

* * *

When Kevin got the text from Archie just as swim team practice ended, he didn’t waste a moment in throwing on dry clothes and racing to the hospital.The entire way over, the words ran through his mind again and again.

_ Jughead and Betty were in a motorcycle crash. No word yet. At hospital with Ron. _

There was still no news when Kevin arrived, barreling through the hospital doors to the waiting room. He knew he must look like a wreck, wearing his gym clothes with his hair damp from the water. He could still smell the chlorine on his body and feel limbs itching as the pool chemicals sank into his skin.

Just as he entered the room, Mrs. Cooper was laying into Jughead, venom in her voice and tears running down her face.

“This is all your fault!” she raged at him, her features twisted with anger and grief. “If it hadn’t been for that damn motorcycle of yours—”

“Mrs. Cooper,  _ please _ .” Archie rushed to defend Jughead, who appeared unharmed other than a few bandages on his arms but was staring blankly into space. “I know you’re upset, but try to calm down. This isn’t Jughead’s fault.”

Mrs. Cooper whirled to turn her wrath on Archie, and Kevin turned to Veronica, seizing the opportunity to gain more information.

“What’s the news?” he asked urgently.

Veronica shook her head, worry on her lovely features. “Betty’s in a coma. The doctors—” she hesitated before continuing, and lowered her voice. “They said it’s not looking good for her.”

Kevin’s stomach dropped, and instantly, he was running through possibilities in his mind. His magic wasn’t strong enough to change the course of reality just yet, so healing Betty was out of the question. Nor did he know any other magic user with the necessary power who would be willing to help him free of charge.

In that case, Kevin would just have to pay the price.

He stood. “Call me if anything changes. I have an errand to run.”

* * *

Though he’d been advised against making deals with demons, Kevin was desperate. It had been bad enough when he thought his friendship with Betty was going to end because she no longer had the time for him. He certainly didn’t want their friendship to end with her  _ dying. _

So he summoned a demon of significant power, one he knew would accept a trade.

Samuel Stanger appeared human on the surface, with dark red hair and unnaturally bright green eyes. He wore a five-piece suit with gleaming loafers, and everything about his appearance was perfectly polished and poised.

Under normal circumstances, Kevin never would have trusted him. But he had no other options.

“I want to make a bargain for someone’s health,” he said firmly. “It’s a mortal named Betty Cooper. She’s in Riverdale Hospital this very moment.”

Stanger’s eyebrows rose. “A deal? For a mortal? Why bother? Death will come for them sooner or later.”

“I want to help her,” Kevin said, forcing down his impatience. “I want her completely healed, healthy, and capable, with no ill effects from the accident whatsoever.”

“Very well,” Stanger said with a shrug. “In return, I desire a year’s worth of memories.” He gave a faint, cold smile. “As well as all the information that goes with them.”

“Deal,” Kevin said immediately.

Stanger waved a hand dismissively. “Not from you. From her.”

“From Betty?” Kevin hesitated. He could make a deal on Betty’s behalf, sure, but he knew that it wouldn’t be right. She should have the final say in what happened to her.

But then again, Kevin tried to convince himself, her being alive and missing memories because of his own expedient decision was better than her being dead.

And if he were being completely honest, he knew that with a year of her memories gone, Betty wouldn’t remember her friendships with Veronica or Cheryl, or her romance with Jughead. He would be her best friend again. She would finally make some time for him.

Was it selfish of him to want to benefit from the loss of her memories? Definitely. But he was also saving her life, he rationalized.

“All right. Deal. I’ll give you a year of Betty’s memories in exchange for you completely healing all of the injuries and ailments that she has right now.” Kevin extended his palm.

Stanger accepted it, gripping his hand firmly, his eyes flashing as his magic responded to their bargain. “It is all undone.”

* * *

News of Betty’s miraculous recovery traveled fast, and Kevin gave her a few days before he visited, knowing she probably wouldn’t want yet another person crowding her. On the third day, he decided to stop by her house.

He sent her a text asking if it was all right, but went ahead even when she didn’t respond. If Stanger had reneged on his half of the bargain somehow, the sooner Kevin knew, the better.

He ambled into the Cooper’s backyard as he’d done a hundred times before and found Betty reading beneath the tall oak tree, a spot she’d favored since childhood.

“Hey, Betty!” Kevin called to her with a wave.

She looked up from her book and stared at him with such confusion that Kevin faltered slightly.

“Hello,” she replied finally, studying him with a puzzled expression.

“How are you?” Kevin asked, wanting to ensure she had the health Stanger had promised.

“Fine,” Betty said politely without elaborating, still watching him warily.

“Want to make plans to go to Pop’s for our birthday?” It had been a tradition since they were kids. Their birthdays were both in March, only two days apart, so they always went to Pop’s together for milkshakes somewhere around that time. “If you’re up to it, that is,” Kevin added.

“You . . . know when my birthday is?” Betty asked suspiciously.

“What?” Kevin blinked in confusion, scrutinizing Betty’s expression. “Are you kidding? We’ve been celebrating our birthdays together since we were kids.”

Betty looked massively creeped out. “Um, no we haven’t. I barely know you. We just . . . we go to school together.” She stood, hugging her book to her chest. “Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d really prefer if you left. Now.”

Too stunned to argue or protest, Kevin complied, his mind racing.

Stanger. It must have been him. He must have twisted a part of their bargain.

* * *

“What did you do?” Kevin demanded after summoning Stanger again. “We had a deal. You were only supposed to take a year of Betty’s memories!”

“And I did,” Stanger said smoothly. “Since you never specified  _ which  _ year, I simply took a year’s worth of all the strongest memories she had that involved you. You two were friends for a decade, correct? So many memories to choose from, but rest assured that what I took totalled the agreed upon amount.”

“What?” Kevin’s mouth went dry. “So Betty doesn’t remember that we were ever best friends?”

“She remembers you, but as far as she’s concerned, you’re just another name and face,” Stanger replied, amusement in his tone.

The breath whooshed out of Kevin’s lungs as if he’d just been suckerpunched. “This can’t be happening,” he muttered to himself.

“But it is.” Stanger reached out and caressed Kevin’s cheek with his thumb. “My poor, foolish Kevin,” he said silkily. “You really were naïve enough to think you could make a bargain with me and actually gain from it. It’s a shame you know better now.” He leaned in so his cold breath could tickle Kevin’s ear. “If it’s any comfort, humans are a race of petty, spiteful creatures, as you yourself have already demonstrated through your ulterior motives for agreeing to my offer. This mortal would have abandoned you one way or the other. That is, if she hadn’t already.”

* * *

He’d saved the day. He’d saved Betty’s life.

But he’d sacrificed their bond to do it, erasing years of closeness, of camaraderie, because he’d thought he’d known what was best.

Desperately, Kevin tried to search for a loophole, anything that would allow Betty to be his friend again, but there was none to be found.

His friendship with Betty Cooper was gone, and he couldn’t get her back.

Of course, he could try to rebuild from scratch. Find a way to form a bond similar to the one they’d had previously. He didn’t have to give up.

Nonetheless, Kevin had lost Betty’s friendship twice already, and while one of those times was admittedly due to his own hubris, the other time had been Betty’s choice.

He didn’t have the strength and drive to keep fighting. He’d been dealt his hand, and now he knew to fold rather than keep raising the stakes.

But it was salt in the wound to see Betty everyday at school, either holding hands with Jughead, laughing with Veronica, or chatting with Archie. Every day Kevin saw her, and every day he was reminded of what he had idiotically bargained away.

* * *

Maybe it was pathetic, but Kevin still showed up to Pop’s for the birthday milkshake he and Betty normally would have enjoyed together. But he didn’t have much of an appetite, and he found he couldn’t stomach the sugary drink. After two sips of the cloying sweetness, he pushed the glass away, too upset to want any more.

What he’d really been looking for by coming to Pop’s, he knew, was permission to mope, to wallow in self-pity and what-could-have-beens. Yes, he should be moving on, he realized such, but he seemed incapable of doing that where Betty was concerned.  

When the diner door jingled and Betty, Archie, Veronica, and Jughead swept in, laughing and chattering, Kevin made up his mind to leave, unable to cope with any further painful reminders. It had been a stupid and pointless idea to show up here, anyway; after all, there was nothing to gain from it.

But just as he was about to leave, a leather jacket-wearing stranger joined him at his table, friendliness glinting in his blue eyes and his expression open and amiable.

“This seat taken?” he asked, indicating the part of the booth opposite Kevin.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Kevin replied, smiling at him in spite of his miserable mood.

“Cool.” The stranger sat down and extended a hand. “I’m Joaquin DeSantos.”

For a moment, Kevin hesitated before taking his mind, his mind going straight to his handshake with Stanger, but then he accepted it anyway. “Kevin Keller.”

Joaquin grinned at him. “Well, Kevin, would you be up for ordering dinner? Because I could really go for a burger.”

Laughing slightly, Kevin felt the faintest glimmer of hope spark in his heart for the first time in a long time. “You know, I think I could, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.


End file.
